Through Clear Air, We Soar
by Darkhymns
Summary: Colette helps Lloyd remember how to fly. [Lloyd/Colette]


**Fun fact: Japanese ToS fans have a day set for Lloyd/Colette on June 15. I wrote this for that day but as you can see it's already a week later... oh well! Enjoy still?**

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With another jump, Lloyd reached out his hands to the sky. It would have been less heart-stopping had he not been two feet away from the edge of a cliff.

"Do you want me to show you again?" Colette asked, hands behind her back.

Lloyd sighed for what must have been the fifteenth time. He scratched the back of his head furiously. "I was able to do it before! Don't know what's wrong now."

With careful steps, she walked towards him. Her feet barely made contact with the grass, only bending their tops with a scrape of her heels. Lloyd watched as Colette floated before him, the afterimage of her wings lifting her form a few inches above him. Not yet there, but the mana moved around her in anticipation.

"Just bring the feeling deep in your chest," she said, hands clasped together in a gesture. "Gather it around your Exsphere, and then it'll appear like that!"

The fullness of her wings could be seen just then, more solid against the sun, their pink hue draping across the ground. It was a sight he saw a thousand times as sometimes off to the side when they fought monsters, or in the distance as she scouted ahead. But she was before him, right now, painted against the sky.

"See?"

He had to clear his throat to speak. "Yeah. But…" Lloyd stretched out his arms, as if the action would make his own wings spring to life. Nothing happened, as expected. "I can't seem to get it!" He even flapped his arms a little. Colette giggled at the sight. "Agh!"

"Lloyd! It's not like… something you force, you know?" She lowered back to the ground, staring up at him. "Sorry, I guess I'm not explaining it right."

The Iselia forest was situated among a smattering of cliffs among the wilderness, so it was simple to find a spot just for them to practice their flying lessons. Or, attempt to. The sky was clear, and the wind was strong, snapping against Colette's hair, bringing it into contact with Lloyd's shoulder. Among the sea of redwoods, they could spot the roof structure of Dirk's house. Its chimney emitted a gentle swirl of smoke from the forging fires, its substance lost eventually to the few patches of clouds.

"No, it's okay." Lloyd sat down on the grass, feet hanging over the cliff's edge. He placed his right palm over the back of his left hand, feeling the presence of the gem. "It's not like I need to really learn it that well anyway if we're just traveling… thought it would make stuff easier."

Colette of course agreed with him. "I know! If we had to go over like a rockslide or something like that, our wings would be very helpful!"

Lloyd just looked more put-out. "Yeah, and I'd be dragging you down…"

"Not if I carried you!" Colette looked absolutely pleased at the thought.

"But then I'd _literally_ be dragging you down!"

Well, not so with Colette's retained angelic strength. But she saw the way Lloyd looked back up into the sky. He had risen far upwards after the seed back then, almost outpacing her as she frantically flew towards him. It was the length of his wings, catching the currents easily, the mana refracting the light in its feathered imitation, to the point that it almost hurt her eyes. He flew as if he had known how to all along.

Her gaze drew to his left hand. Fragments of an idea slowly fell into place. "Maybe you need someone to fly with you? I was only just telling and showing you before, so…"

Lloyd turned to her, head upturned. "But, don't I need to still have my wings out anyway?"

The sky was bright and inviting. The sunlight shone off the Exsphere on his hand, but the light was pleasant, and didn't make her turn away.

She took that hand in her own, feeling warm. "I told you I can carry you if I need to!"

It was a decision that she was set on, pulling Lloyd to his feet. Her wings reappeared – shaped like diamonds, arranged in soft patterns behind her, like the stained-glass windows of the church – with one draping across the boy's right shoulder as she stood near. "I can start flying, and maybe when you're in the air you'll remember!"

"…Um, is this safe?"

She reached out for his other hand, interlocking their fingers. "You got your wings differently from me. So… maybe you should re-learn how to fly differently from me?" She paused. "Oh, that doesn't make much sense, I suppose…"

"No, I… think I get it?" She could see his chest rise as he took a breath, looking out over the cliff as he tilted his head to the expanse above. He then looked back down the steep cliff. Though he had easily sat over its edge just moments before, he unconsciously took a step back. "Huh, this is higher than I usually jump though."

"I won't let you fall!"

"I know you won't, Colette." He still kept a fierce grip on both her hands. "So, do I just…?"

She had only seen his wings once, and but she had remembered them being engulfing, their wingtips brushing against her back, covering her in cool shadows. Her own were more subdued, with spaces between the mana energies to let the sky show through. They must have been bright as well, she realized. She could always see their hue reflected in Lloyd's eyes.

She thought about pulling him up by his hands, but then considered how that might have been uncomfortable for him. So impulsively, she untangled one hand from his, and wrapped an arm around his back.

He leaned into her the moment she did so, mirroring her action with his own free hand. "Like this?" he asked.

She nodded. "Okay, I'm going to start flying now. Just tell me if…"

Colette never really got to finish, feeling his weight in her arms as her wings downbeat against the wind. She was preoccupied with adjusting her hands, and trying to not pin her chin into his shoulder. She felt the slight tensions in his back, muscles straining to withstand the loss of gravity.

Still, he hung onto her, fingers tightening around their clasped hands. Another downbeat, and Colette took them further, several feet from the grass, until they could both clearly see the underside of the cliff.

When they had climbed to this spot, the road had been winding, and the elevation challenging the strength of their legs. But even when they stood over the peak, they didn't realize just how high they had just ascended.

And they were floating up into the sky ever higher.

Lloyd held onto her tightly. She could feel the pace of his breath quicken, how he leaned into her shoulder as she lifted him. His weight meant nothing to her, though the wind blew more harshly the higher they went.

The trees were far below, their tops swaying from the breeze. They could both see even more of Dirk's house; the balcony with the potted plants perched on its railing, the tiles on the roof where a few needed to be re-shingled on its left side, and the stream where the sunlight reflected off its placid waters.

Lloyd extended his free hand towards the empty space around them. "I think…" The Exsphere winked in the light. "I think I'm starting to get it."

Colette still didn't let him go just yet, but she noticed a difference. The way he started to shift, to ease some of his mass from off hers. She'd be fine if he leaned on her for as long as he wanted, if he needed her hand, as he had done when they had held the sword over the seed.

When she saw his wings first form, she took that as a signal to ease her own grip.

Lloyd flinched. "Whoa!"

"Oh! It's okay! I still got you, see?"

"Ah, sorry…" Lloyd still held out his arm, as if searching for an invisible wall to balance himself on. "We're just really high up, so it's a bit, uh…" He didn't want to say he was scared, clearly. Colette held back her laughter – she just found it to be cute. "I just wanna not mess up, yeah!"

He didn't know he had his wings out yet. The mana slowly shaped itself behind him, upheld and bent, as if they were already in mid-flight. His right wing just brushed the top of her head, and there was a coolness that set off a pleasant pulse in her chest. Maybe it was a reaction to her crystal, or something else entirely.

"You're doing great, Lloyd," she told him. She wanted him to realize for himself, so she eased her grip on him again. He needed to feel himself suspended by his own strength instead of her own. His reluctance to leave was difficult to ignore. There was nothing better than his warmth as they floated in the chilly air, no matter the brightness of the sun.

He trusted her, slowly separating himself from her body until they were only connected by their hands. Feeling how his arm didn't strain, it was then that Lloyd realized he was flying on his own.

Colette grinned when Lloyd turned his head to see his wings. "See? I knew you could do it!"

"Wow!" His wings shifted, the particles of mana drifting around them, their light multicolored, as bright as falling stars. "This isn't so hard actually! Awesome!"

Colette was happy. Now he could fly with her whenever they pleased. She remembered when they first floated back to the earth before the tree, how Lloyd's hand had tightened on hers just as his wings started to disintegrate. Had he lost it then because she refused to let him go? Even Dirk's dwarven vows mention how one had to walk on their own two legs. (Did wings count?)

"Why don't you practice?" Her hand eased on his own. With Lloyd's confidence boosted considerably, he didn't reject the action. "I'm sure you'll get it quick!"

"Okay!" Lloyd moved further away. His wings outstretched. She looked down, seeing their shadows against the trees and patches of flatland. In the meantime, only their fingers remained in contact, interlocked, but no real weight to their grasp.

Lloyd was truly flying on his own, nearly as natural as that day. Lloyd had both arms outstretched, his hair flying in all directions. His wings spread out like a falcon's. "Whoa, this is fun! I guess… I didn't really get to focus on this the last time."

They were flying faster, unconsciously heading to Dirk's house. The speed of their flight made Lloyd's voice get blown away by the wind. But Colette's keen hearing could pick up every syllable. "Well, now you have all the time you need!" And with another sudden impulse, she let go of his hand entirely. She flapped her wings, gaining several inches ahead of him. "We can have a race even! That's probably good practice."

Of course, Lloyd couldn't put down a friendly challenge. "You're on!" His large wings were an advantage, already gathering enough air to push him through the sky, nearly catching up to her.

But while Lloyd's wings seemed better suited for bursts of power such as that, Colette had more practice, and she could maneuver through the sky easily with her smaller wings. With a playful wink at him, she swerved around his body to find the currents that would more or less glide her to victory.

"Hey, no fair!" Lloyd shouted at her with a smile, and beat his wings. Despite being made of pure mana, they acted as if solid, the clash of his wings making a snapping sound in the air, like that of low thunder. Colette's own beat like that of a hummingbird's, their shape blurring to a pink shimmer across her back.

She was so happy that she could share this with Lloyd. And, while she wasn't really a competitive person, she was ecstatic that it looked like she was going to win, too!

"You better catch up!" she shouted back to him, eyes latched onto the house that grew more detailed as they neared it. She waited for Lloyd to answer back, or for his wings to crush through the air once more.

So it was unnerving when she heard nothing instead.

Colette blinked, knowing something was wrong. She immediately halted her flight, her wings slowing to a gentle rhythm again. She turned. He heart stilled when Lloyd was nowhere in sight, not even way off in the distance.

Eyes shifted in all directions, finding no hint of red or a shape of bright wings. "Lloyd! Lloyd!"

Then she looked down.

He was there, and he was falling.

Colette more or less dropped from the sky, flattening her wings against her back so that they couldn't catch any air. Her clothes whipped around her body. She neared the branches of the oldest trees of the woods, and reached out her arms as far as she could.

Throughout her descent, she could hear Lloyd's panicked voice grow slowly grow louder.

"Catchmecatchmecatchme _catchmecatchme-!"_

Her arms gathered around his back, crushing him to her chest. She held him tight as she rescued him from near death, only several feet away from rocky-covered ground. Her momentum was hard to fully stop, so she extended her wings once more to ride the currents. She avoided the ground and lifted both her and Lloyd in an arc that led her up to the sky once again.

Once she was flying normally again, she babbled out a string of apologies. "I'm so sorry, Lloyd! I'm so sorry! I should have been more careful! Are you hurt?!"

She gave very little thought to how she carried him, due to how quick the ordeal had been. One arm was holding up his back, while another was lifting him from underneath his knees. She cradled him as if any other movement would break him. Lloyd was very still, both arms wrapped around her neck, head pressed into her shoulder.

In a clearly shaky voice, he answered. "I… I'm fine. N-no problem…"

Colette felt tears seep from her eyes. "Oh, Lloyd! I'm sorry! I just wanted to help. Instead, I only…"

She was hanging in the air now, holding him carefully. Her wings continued to flap to keep them suspended. Lloyd slowly pulled back, and though he was a little pale, there was a grin on his face.

"Colette… it's fine, promise."

"But I almost-"

"No, really! I mean-" Lloyd looked around, hanging off of her with a bit of stubbornness. The weight of his arms around her neck was not at all hindering – she felt it as the same feather-light weight of her necklace, still tucked deep within her overcoat. "I mean, it wasn't as bad as when we crashed those Rheiards."

Colette was still not fully convinced (and she only had dim recollections of that memory), but she wouldn't argue, or apologize anymore. In desperation, she hugged Lloyd tight. He laughed breathlessly in her ear, and his earnest forgiveness for her lapse of judgement was enough to ease her guilt slightly.

"I'll just take you home now," she said. "If we need to fly, um, we can just use the Rheiards then." Though now she worried about crashing, and wondered if Lloyd had gotten any injuries from that.

He didn't answer her right away. His hair brushed against her cheek as he turned around, one time even leaning down to see below them. She didn't feel him shake anymore as he did so.

"You know, maybe flying like this isn't too bad?"

"Oh?"

"It's relaxing. Like, I don't have to do a thing and still get to fly!" He paused. "But, you know, if you're okay with that."

More than okay. She could only nod, and then hug him tight. "I really don't mind at all!"

"Colette, the tree!"

She swerved away from the branches just in time, only dislodging a few pine needles from it. "Hehe, sorry!"

"Man…" But Lloyd was laughing, too.

Colette remembered something similar to this; when they had all been celebrating a few nights before, just right after the world reunification. Zelos had been particularly very happy, and then somehow leapt himself into Sheena's arms, clamoring for her to carry him. It hadn't lasted long, and both ninja and Chosen fell together in a heap, with her loudly complaining over Zelos' weight crushing her.

She held Lloyd as Sheena tried to hold Zelos that night, and she was happy that she could. Even if their flying lesson had been a failure, at the very least she could do this for him.

And it seemed, that for Lloyd, still clinging around her neck, forehead pressed against her cheek – that was everything he needed and more.


End file.
